Federalism and Local Politics in Russia

stations. In the Pskov region, 20.1 per cent of the electorate voted at home(in the Nevelsk District the figure was 49.5 per cent). As Oreshkin concludes,‘a clear pattern is observable: wherever over 30 per cent vote from home, theturnout is 15 per cent higher than average for the region, and United Russiareceives 10 per cent above the average result’. 56As we noted above, minimum turnout thresholds have now been abolished.One of the reasons for this is that regional leaders have often had to resort tofalsifying turnout figures to validate their elections. Thus, for example, in localelections in March 2007 in the city of Hasavyrut (Dagstan Republic),Turnout by two o’clock was approximately the same in all districts –between 34.99 and 35.18 per cent. And notably, the turnout in all 26districts changed in step: by 4 p.m. it fluctuated between 61.98 and 62.41per cent, while two hours later it was 77.98-78.03 per cent. 57The turnout figures here were clearly fabricated according to the wishes ofthe Republican leadership.Outright falsification of elections is also widespread. Thus, for example, in783 electoral districts in Dagestan, where a total of 395 thousand peoplevoted in the 11 March 2007 regional and local elections, there was not asingle invalid ballot paper. Not one single voter made a mistake and spoiledhis or her ballot paper, which as Oreshkin notes, ‘is simply, in practice,impossible’. 58 Furthermore, ‘In 124 districts, United Russia won 100 per centof the votes; in 36 districts there was a 100 per cent turnout, and all of them,without exception, voted for United Russia.’ Moreover, ‘in one electoral district,United Russia won 100 per cent of the votes in the republican level ballots,but only 7 per cent in the municipal ballots’ 59 However, citizens havealready begun to fight back by spoiling their ballot papers, which is now theonly method they have left to voice their discontent. Thus, for example, insteadof the normal average of about 1 per cent, wasted ballots made up 6.1 per centin the March 2007 local elections in the Komi Republic; in the city of VelikhieLuky 8.9 per cent were wasted, whilst in electoral district No. 158 of the PskovRegion, the figure for spoilt ballot papers was 31 per cent! 60 In his Study of theMoscow Municipal Elections of 2004 Buzin gave this pessimistic assessment,it is necessary to stress that in many of Moscow’s polling stations (thereare 3,200) there were no skilled observers. The impudence of the way inwhich the falsifiers were covered from the rear by the MoscowProsecutors’ Office, and in some cases the courts, allows us to assumethat the falsification of elections was conducted on a massive scale. 61Politicization of electoral commissionsMunicipal elections 299One of the reasons why the manipulation of elections is so prevalent is the factthat election commissions are financially dependent on the state and are